Adjacent Farm Dry Enough to Plant Corn 4-18-10 5:40pm

This set of photo's illustrates that the soil was dry enough for the Resch Family to plant corn on April 18, 2010. They are the first to plant corn in a three mile radius of my farm. Several farmers in the neighborhood have not even hooked up there planters or tillage equipment.

My dad and I always tried to start planting by May 1st. We were always worried about a late frost killing the seedlings just coming out of the ground. I remember several Minnesota fishing openers with snow and icing conditions around May 15th.



In above photo - No tresspas signs are posted allong property line.



Perhaps the Resch's are taking advantage of the dry planting conditions now that the County Tile System has been operating efficiently all spring.

Reduced head pressure is allowing them to get into the field early.

If drainage system works better than ever, will CER values go up for farms along County Ditch 6.

Adjacent Farm Dry Enough for Spring Tillage 4-18-10

Early morning reflection of my building site looking from the trash skimmers viewpoint. Thousands of gulls have stoped by for the past week or so to rest before heading north on their migration.


East Berm on Basin A - Big- Massive - Dry

Water managed and controlled within the confinement of the basin.


4-18-2010 - At 1:30 Mr. John Resch begins incorperating chemical on adjacent field. Yesterday, he tested the field. Today the field is fit enough to begin spring tillage. In this photo, he is field cultivating next to the county's observation pipe and the 6" hickenbottom.

I looked from horizon to horizon with binoculars and only saw one other tractor in the field. I think Wederbrands were leveling off a corn field.


In this photo, you can see Mr Resch spraying herbicide in front of the field cultivator at the north end of my silt fence.


In this photo, Mr. Resch is incorporating right by the 8" hickenbottom.


In this photo, you can see that the water from Basin A or Duck Pond is safely flowing freely into the county tile access point with 1" of water above the outlet structure. The flow rate at the county's observation pipe was 4.5 inches in a 10 inch tile.

Adjacent Farm Dry Enough for Spring Tillage 4-17-10

Basin A or Duck Pond is draining water at 1" above the maintained water level.

This Rat Catcher/ Trash Skimmer on Duck Pond does a good job of straining any organic matter from going into the tile.

The field adjacent to Basin A was dry enough for Mr. Resch to begin spring tillage. He made a round adjacent to the property line.

Photos show his tillage by the 6" and 8" Hickenbottoms and by the county's observation pipe. These are the three low spots along the property line.

I tilled by the 6" Hickenbottom yesterday and it was dry.

The atv tires were clean and dry by the 8" hickenbottom.

The outlet on Basin A was flowing freely at the 1" level and the rate of flow at the observation pipe was at 4 1/4" in a 10" tile.

The drainage system is working as designed.

By reducing if not eliminating head pressure on the 1909 drainage system, I feel that this is a win/win situation for County Ditch #6.

Dogs Wearing Life Vests

Here is Janeen and our three dogs wearing their life preservers.

Speed Fell Through the Thin Ice on Duck Pond.

This morning around 9:20, Janeen headed for a walk out on the wetlands with the three dogs. A few minutes later fearless Speed was out on the new thin ice probably out investigating the duck decoys that I had placed out there a few day's ago.

She fell in and could not get out on her own. After realizing this, Janeen tried to call me at 9:29 am. I was busy helping with a Jackson Lions project up at the home show at AGCO. After trying five times to reach me, she finally call my brother Bob who called me and got in touch with me.

I left the show immediately and rushed home thinking the whole way that I would arrive home to a drowned prized hunting dog and my wife in tears from having just witness such a tragedy.

I arrived home and saw Speeds head was still above the water. I quickly pulled on my chest waders, grabbed my life preserver, and drove as fast as I could on my atv down to the waters edge.

After assessing the situation and realizing that she was somehow still alive after being in the water around thirty minutes by the time I stepped foot in Duck Pond.

I broke Ice for a couple hundred feet to get out to her. She was standing on the bottom in chest high water waiting for me to get there.

She was shivering and it felt like I was dragging a gunny sack full of potatoes through freshly broken path of ice.

Once she was out of the water, I put her on my lap upside down on the atv and rushed to the house. Janeen had called the vet for advice and they said warm water was the best thing to regain core temperature. So into the hot tub we went. I put her in and crawled in myself to calm her as the tepid water filled the tub.

After about an hour, she stopped shivering so we fed her and welcomed her back into living in the house for a few nights.

She was warm and cleaner than she had been in quite some time.

Lesson Learned, We own dog life preservers and will try to have them on the dogs when thin ice is a hazard.

The first photo is me in the tub sharing the experience with my little buddy.

The second photo is Janeen pouring warm water over Speed.

The third photo is Duck Pond with the ice from one night of ice (An inch or more on the south side). I took this photo this morning.

Full capacity has been reached

Duck Pond and Shorebird Pond have reached their full holding capacity and water is freely spilling over the spillways.

Goose Pond will begin spilling over in the next day or so. It is 3 inches shy of capacity.

Combined they hold approximately 30 million gallons of water and cover in excess of 35 acres of land.

The important thing to remember is that the there is no head pressure on the tile lines on all sides of the wetland. This means that the drainage tile can drain freely with out backing up.

The wetlands are functioning as designed.

I encourage everyone to look east as you drive by on County Road 17.

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